With my puppet Rocky Hawk on St. Pat's Day in St. Louis,
March Madness 2002

December 2007 in Tunisia
(before the Arab Spring)

Last updated:
10/21/2011

Employment
First worked at Sullivan Higdon & Sink advertising agency until I became public relations director for the Wichita Symphony. After that I became publicity director for the next three years at the largest school of music in the world—Indiana University, Bloomington. While there I began work on an MBA degree in marketing, but left to become public relations director for the Indiana State Medical Association in Indianapolis. After winning a national award from the Public Relations Society of America for a statewide public education campaign, I was hired as director of communications for the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM) in Washington, D.C. There, I worked for the next 18 years, becoming vice president of communications, marketing and federation relations while living in and commuting by metrorail to/from Arlington and then Falls Church, Va. After ASIM merged with the American College of Physicians, which is based in Philadelphia, I took a very generous severance package and began doing communications consulting and freelancing in the DC area for a few more years.

Hearth & Home
After 9/11 (having several friends hurt or otherwise affected at the Pentagon) and the sniper attacks (one of which I missed witnessing by being at the Falls Church Home Depot three hours before the fatal shooting), I decided to return to the sanity, slow pace and low-cost-living of good ole Lawrence. So 30+ years after I left "for good," I again am a Lawrence resident, arriving (appropriately?) on Halloween night 2003. Own a townhouse in Deerfield Woods (surrounded by the woods which is home to amazing wildlife), which I share(d) with two cats—Pandora, a beautiful champagne-point Tonkinese, and Paws, a wonderful rescue calico. No husband(s), past or present, or kids, but probably could have been married and divorced at least three times over the years.

The Other Stuff
Traveling is my passion and joy. For 20+ years, was able to piggyback vacations with my many job-related travels to meetings in Hawaii, Bermuda, Canada and other wonderful places. Now I spend 2-3 weeks with California family during Christmas holidays in places like Sicily, Mexico (Guadalajara, the Copper Canyon and touring the "heritage" trail), Italy and Bali. Or cruising from Buenos Aires to Uruguay and the Falkland Islands, and then down the Argentinean coast, through Cape Horn, and back up the Chilean coast to Santiago—with stops all along the way. Really, really loved a two-week tour around Labor Day of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (you should go there!), with a final stop in Bar Harbor, ME. And Christmastime 2008 was spent touring Tunisia (which necessitated coming back thru Paris the day after the "underpants bomber" incident; only took me 60 hours to get back to KC as a result!). Recently took two Mediterranean cruises, one in 2009 (with family) and one in 2010 (with friends). Saw different countries and places during each, except both times spent extra days in Barcelona, where I could easily live for many months if not years if I ever had the chance. (See update below, about travelling NOW tho.)

A (close) second passion is KU basketball, which also allows me to travel. Since the '80s, I've been going to most of the pre-season tournaments (3x to Maui, to Ottawa, Canada in 2008, and will be going to see KU-KY at MSG 11/15/2011; can't go to Maui for 4th time this year BUT will see KU play USC in LA in Dec.). Most important, I go to virtually all of the post-season NCAA games, seeing friends from all eras of my life, which is REALLY special! Being back in Lawrence is special that way too. Football was fun for a while also. Seeing, in person, the Jayhawks win the 2008 Orange Bowl in Miami (after being at the 1969 disappointment there) and traveling the road to all the games of the 2008 NCAA National Championship in hoops provided thrills of a lifetime. I can now die avenged, relieved and totally happy ;)

In the first few years back in Lawrence, to keep busy at home and help pay for part of my travels, did some paid as well as volunteer consulting and freelance work, such as designing and creating/maintaining websites (including this one). Was Nancy Boyda's (full-time, paid) scheduler when she first ran (unsuccessfully) for Congress; second time, she won!. Early on and after, my volunteer activities included helping to successfully make and keep Lawrence workplaces smoke-free as a member of the steering committee for CleanAir Lawrence (and creating/maintaining the website); delivering Meals on Wheels several times a week; helping in the business office of Lawrence Habitat for Humanity; ushering at the Lied Center; and serving on the marketing committee of Health Care Access, Lawrence's wonderful health care clinic for uninsured workers.

Update 2011: From camels (above) to motorhomes (below). Yep, am now a proud owner of a brand new (2011 Class C) 30 ft. Itasca Cambria 28b and well on my way to reinventing my life and experiencing amazing new adventures. Spent most of 2010 joining groups like Escapees RV Club to learn about the lifestyle; attending in a rented RV a 3-day boot camp north of Phoenix in early 2011 to learn about tires, fires, sewage, etc. (which almost put out my fire of desire for doing this); and then, seriously negotiating nationwide on exactly what I wanted to drive/live in for the new life's journey.

Introducing Camie the Coach...

Bought Camie in April 2011 and, after a few shorter practice outings (including learning to drive/navigate/tow my RAV4), spent mid-July to mid-Sept. at/in Cheyenne Frontier Days; Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park; Grand Tetons Nat'l Park; Yellowstone; Cody, Sheridan & Gillette, WY (mostly for RV rallies and Escapees Escapade); and the SW and NW areas of SD in too many absolutely wonderful places to name. Then came back to Lawrence for our 45th LHS reunion (was terrific seeing many of you again!!!). Will be packing up and leaving again in late November for 3 months on the road (Nov-Dec. with family in CA), (Jan. with new RV buddies in AZ) and Feb. (TBD). Then it'll be March Madness time again. So hopefully, I'll be able to follow the Jayhawks (with the many other Jayhawk RVers) in Camie the Coach, and then spend a couple Spring months in Lawrence for lovely Apr-May 2012. After that? Summer in Newfoundland? Fall in New England? Winter in the FL Keys?

HOME, HOME on the ROAD
Footloose and fancy free...that's the (newest) life for me!

My Memories of LHS
The best memory I have was being Black Team captain and winning the Girls Sports Show (handily, I might brag) my senior year. I also remember fondly the wild and crazy slumber parties at Gayle's and Karen's, among others' homes; cheering at games and summer competitions with Glenna et al; dragging the square and riding with Terry through Allen's, over and over and over again; and sitting on the side of a country road with Cindy, Debbie, Darlene, Sue, Terri, Karen, Marilyn, etc., while we each drank a whole quart of 3.2 beer and hugged and cried about the silliest things. But how could I possibly forget Miss Ruttan's daily admonishments, including telling Ann Feaker to sit on her hands (so she couldn't nervously twist her hair), and having to stay after school, imperturbably and without truculence, to take Miss R's famous 10-word quizzes.

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